Improvement in wooden pavements



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACKSON GRANT, OF MILWAUKEE, VISOONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN WOODEN PAVEMENTS.

Specification forming part of Let-ters Patent No. 112,239, dated February 28, 1871.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, J ACKSON GRANT, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and in the State of Viseon'sin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wooden Pavements; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my pavement; Fig. 2, an .end elevation of the same, showing one method of connecting two or more series of the blocks; and Fig. 3, a similar elevation, showing a different method of connecting three or more series of the blocks.

Like letters of like kinds denote like parts in each figure.

The object of my invention is the construction of a wooden pavement for streets which shall be durable, firm, and effective, which can be readily and rapidly laid down, and conveniently taken up in any part in order to get access to gas, water, or sewer pipes, without destruction of any considerable part of the pavement, and the parts so taken up be replaced quickly and cheaply, and in such a manner that the integrity of the whole shall be preserved; and the invention consists in combining an upper block with a lower block, each of peculiar construction, and in connecting both together, with the grain of the wood in each in a vertical position; in the arrangement of the upper block so that it will rest upon four of the lower blocks; in the means employed for connecting and tying two or more series of blocks together, and in the peculiar form of the blocks employed, all as more full yhereinafter described and explained.

In the drawing, A represents the pavement as an entirety 5 l5, the upper blocks, and C the lower blocks, of the same.

The upper blocks are rectangular, with opposite faces parallel to each other, and their bottoms are provided with a rectangular longitudinal recess, a, near the center of the block, and a beveled longitudinal recess, b, inclining inwardly upon the outside of the same block. The employment of these recesses leaves upon the bottom of each block B a rectangular tongue, c, and a beveled tongue,

d, largest at the lower end, and upon the top of each block C similar and corresponding tongues c' and d. The lower blocks are similar in form to the upper ones, and are provided with correspondin g and similar recesses a' and b upon their tops.

D are metallic hooks or staples, made of suitable length to embrace two longitudinal series of blocks, with their ends turned alike at right angles; and D' is a similar hook, made of sufficient length to embrace three or more of such series of blocks.

In laying down this pavement the road-bed is prepared with gravel and sand in the usual manner, and the pavement is placed directly upon this without the interposition of flooring or stringers. The blocks before laying may be dipped, if desired, wholly or partly in any proper antiseptic preparation. Upon this roadbed a series of blocks, C, is laid across the street from curb to curb, with the recessed ends uppermost, and the recesses arranged lengthwise of the street. These blocks should, however, be selected of narrow lengths horizontally, so that they will not extend beyond the centers of the first course of the upper blocks. Upon these lower blocks thus placed a tier of the upper blocks should be placed by entering the tongues c and d into the recesses a. and b of the lower blocks and sliding said upper blocks into place. A row being thus completed, a series of lower blocks should then be inserted in similar manner into the upper blocks just laid, and the work continued in the same way, series after series. The blocks may then be connected or tied together by driving down one of the hooks D over the tops of the tongues c and d of a pair of adjoining lower blocks, C, or into the recesses a and b of a pair of the upper blocks, B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 5 or a series of three or more of the blocks may be connected and tied together by a similar'use ot' the hook D.

After the pavement is laid, or during the work of laying, all the spaces between the blocks are filled with sand, gravel, concrete, or other suitable composition, rammed and applied in the usual manner.

It will be noticed, then, in this arrangement of the pavement, that each of the upper blocks, B, will rest equally upon four of the lower blocks, C; that each of said upper blocks is,

by means of the beveled recesses and tongues,

securely tied to the lower blocks, so that it cannot be Withdrawn vertically; that the longitudinal series of upper blocks is separated from each other by Jche interposit-ion of the tongues d a sufficient distance for the concrete, gravel, or other composition used for filling, and that each pair or greater number of longitudinal series is connected by means of the hooks D or D.

In the taking up of this pavement for the purpose of making repairs to gas or other pipes beneath the surface, it Will be necessary to split and remove a couple of the upper blocks in adjoining longitudinal series, when the next corresponding pair of upper blocks may be moved along, so as to cover a lower corresponding pair of blocks, and then removedtogethervertically. This space so given Will make room for the removal in turn of the adjoining blocks, both upper and lower.

The pavement can be replaced in the same manner, it being only necessary, in replacing the last tWo blocks, to cut oft' a portion of the sides of the beveled tongues and drive the blocks down in place.

Having thus described the nature, construc tion, and Inode of laying and replacing my pavement, what I claim as new therein is- 1. In a Wooden pavement, an upper block,

B, with a bed-block, G, each constructed and connected with the other substantially as dep scribed and shown.

2. The arrangement, in a wooden pavement, of the upper block, B, constructed substantially as described and shown, so that it shall rest upon and be connected with four of the bed-blocks O, constructed substantially as described and shown.

v 3. The means employed for connecting two or more longitudinal series of blocks, B or C. consisting of the hooks D D', constructed and arranged substantially as described and shown. 4. The blocks B C, .provided each with a 'rectangular and a beveled tongue and corresponding recesses, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

JACKSON GRANT.

Witnesses W. S. MARR., EDM. F. BROWN. 

